This presentation proposes an effective way to increase publication productivity for research in agricultural economics and rural development, based on regularly scheduled writing and a systematic method. It first explains how to schedule 25% of your working time for writing. It then describes the method, breaking down the writing task into five practical steps: 1) develop a story line to describe new and important research; 2) mold the story into a short outline, according to the basic structure of a scientific paper; 3) assemble the evidence for a convincing case in relevant and well-organized tables and figures; 4) write the first draft of the story; and, finally, 5) rewrite and edit the draft for style and language. With careful targeting of good journals, and some luck in the reviewing process, the proposed method should lead to several publications each year.

1. How to write a great paper in
agricultural development
and get it published
Hugo De Groote
Africa Strategy Retreat
Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) Program
24 – 28 March 2024
Nairobi, Kenya

2. Why writing/publishing papers?
• Your boss wants you to
• Your work would largely go waste if the results are not
accessible
• It would be unethical to waste the time of participants
(trials and experiments) and respondents (surveys)
• It is good for your career.
Stage Years Publications h-index
Post Doc 2 4 2
Associate Scientist 3 10 5
Scientist 4 18 9
Senior scientist 4 26 13

3. How are we doing on pubishing?
• SAS social scientists
https://www.scopus.com/search/form.uri?zone=TopNavBar
&origin=&display=basic#author
0
5
10
15
20
25
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1213 1415 16 1718
h-index
Social scientist (N=18)
h-index(onebarperscientist)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Number
of
papers
published
Social scientist (N=18)
Paperspublished/scientist 2023
(39)

4. Break up the task – 5 steps
Break down the daunting task of writing a paper into
smaller steps makes it more manageable and helps keep
track of the overall job.
1. Write the story
2. Develop the outline
3. Develop the tables and figures;
4. Write the first draft,
5. Edit the draft for style and language.
De Groote H. 2011. How to write a great paper in agricultural development
and get it published. African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics
6(2) 195-215.

5. Set time aside for writing
• For myself: time before 11 AM is reserved for writing
– Schedule meetings, visits later in the day
• When traveling: planes/taxis, early morning,
• After a conference, stay an extra day to finish the
manuscript
• Organize writing workshops with your projects
• Read Silvia
• Sabbatical or mini-sabbatical (Mexico)
https://cals.cornell.edu/global-development/our-work/our-
initiatives/frosty-hill-fellowship
Silvia, PJ, 2007. How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive
Academic Writing. American Psychological Association,
Washington, DC.

6. 5 Steps in writing
Step Topic Action
1 Story Develop good story line on important topic.
2 Outline Develop short outline to tell story in standard
scientific format.
3 Documentation Prepare tables and graphs to document story.
4 Draft for
structure
Write structured draft, with emphasis on content
and structure.
5 Rewrite for style Edit full text, with emphasis on style.

7. 1. The story line
Elements Story
What is the problem? Water hyacinth had invaded Africa, covering large swaths of
water, obstructing fishing and transport. Biological control put
in place, but effect and impact not yet documented.
What has been done
before?
Some indicators and informal assessment showed good
control and substantial reduction of water hyacinth cover.
What was missing? No solid evidence of efficacy or impact of biological control
What was done to fill
the gap?
Survey of representative sample of men and women in
affected areas (lagoons of Benin)
How did the results
fill the gap?
Results showed that inhabitants observed clear reduction of
problem after release of the biological agent and improvement
of livelihoods (fishing income for men, marketing for women)
What did we learn? Biocontrol is an effective and cheap way of controlling water
hyacinth, much appreciated by inhabitants whose livelihood
depends on water, in particular women traders and fishermen.

8. 2. Outline
• Outline level 1: IMRAD
– Introduction
– Methods
– Results
– Discussion/Conclusion
Day, RA, 1989. The Origins of the Scientific Paper: The IMRAD Format.
Journal of the American Medical Writers Association 4(2), 16–18.

9. Outline – level 2
Stapleton, P, Youdeowei, H, Mukanyange, J &
Van Houten, H, 1995. Scientific writing for
agricultural research scientists: A training
reference manual. WARDA, Bouake.

10. Methods (checklist)
Subsection Check list
1. Conceptual
framework
Identification of main concepts for problem at hand and
possible solutions
Hypothesized relationship
2. Empirical
framework
Variables to approximate and measure concepts
Functional form of relationships between variables
3. Study design Design of survey or trial
Randomization procedure
Target population
Size of sample or replicates
4. Implementation of
study/ data
collection
Study area
Period of the study
People who organized the study and collected data
Data collected, variables measured
Instruments used to measure variables
Ethical clearance of study
5. Analysis Methods of analysis for different objectives

11. 3. Develop tables and graphs

12. 4. Write the text –
version 1

13. 5. Write the text – v2
• Write out the full text, in the outline
• Then convert the outline to text
• Final editing:
– Use grammar and spell check, check writing stats
– Read up on the classics on writing
– Have paper read by all co-authors
– Have paper read by a colleague or, preferably, an editor
(Liz Waygood is under contract with CIMMYT), charge
your project)
Strunk, WJ & White, EB, 1979[1918]. The Elements of Style. Revised.
Macmillan, New York.
Zinsser, WK, 2006. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction.
HarperCollins, New York.

14. Submission to journal
• Choose target journals and determine order (start with high IF)
• Use journal style and submission format (with or without authors, tables at the
end, with/without letter to the editor, Endnote format, ….
• Add other elements
– authors, affiliations, emails,
– Key words
– JEL codes (journal of economic literature)
– acknowledgements, and funding with details like grant number
– author statement,
– Declaration of interest
• Submit
• Response 1: invitation for resubmission
– In a response letter: Respond to each point of the reviewers
– Resubmit
• Response 2: reject
– Use the comments of reviewers to improve paper
– Submit to journal No. 2 on the list
• Repeat …. Repeat … Repeat (my record: 12 journals)

15. Journals
Topic Journal IF 2011 IF 2022
General science Science 29.7 48
Agricultural and resource economics
Ecological Economics 2.42 7.0
Journal of Agricultural Economics 1.16 3.6
American Journal of Agricultural Economics 1.05 4.1
Agricultural Economics 0.67 2.1
Rural development
Food Policy 1.61 6.5
World Development 1.22 6.9
Agriculture and Human Values 1.12 2.6
Economic Development and Cultural Change 0.86 2.0
Agronomy and breeding
Field Crops Research 2.34 5.8
Crop Science 1.74 2.4
Agronomy Journal 1.53 3.7
Euphytica 1.4 1.9
Experimental Agriculture 0.63 1.45
African Journal of Agricultural Research 0.08 -

16. Journals (cont.)
Systems, ecology,
multidisciplinary
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 3.13 6.7
Agricultural Systems 2.11 6.6
Economic Botany 0.89 2.6
Outlook on Agriculture 0.38 3
Food and nutrition
Journal of Nutrition 3.77 4.2
Food and Nutrition Bulletin 1.59 1.9
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 1.39 3.6
Journal of the Ecology of Food and Nutrition 0.31 1.8
Crop protection
Crop Protection 1.33 2.8
Journal of Stored Products Research 1.25 2.7
International Journal of Pest Management 0.6 1.5
Biotechnology
African Journal of Biotechnology 0.46 0.6
New journals
Food Security 6.7
Global food security 8.9

17. Thank you
for your
interest!